Former pharmacy owner pleads guilty to faking prescriptions, authorities said

The former owner of Davis Ethical Pharmacy in Rockville Centre admitted in court Thursday that he faked prescriptions totaling $232,000, authorities said.

In one instance, the physician listed as writing the fake prescription was dead, prosecutors said.

William Davis, 63, a licensed pharmacist, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the second degree in Nassau District Court for sending phony prescription records for reimbursement to both Medicaid and the New York State Health Insurance Program between 2008 and 2011.

Davis, who lives in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, agreed to pay the money back on or before his Jan. 27 sentencing, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, whose office uncovered the fraud during an examination of some $7 million paid to Davis.

“Mr. Davis thought he could steal from taxpayers,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Through our audits and investigation and our partnership with Nassau County District Attorney-Elect Madeline Singas’ office and the Department of Financial Services, we were able to expose his crimes, hold him accountable and return the $232,000 to the public.”

DiNapoli found that Medicaid overpaid Davis Ethical $94,460 during the four-year scope of the inquiry, including $68,307 in fake prescriptions written for people who were the patients of the doctors who supposedlly treated them.

The comptroller also found that the state health insurance plan overpaid the pharmacy $137,459, including $54,055 for patients who were not being treated by the doctors purported to have prescribed their medication.

“The defendant bilked taxpayers out of more than $230,000 by submitting fraudulent billing claims over a four year period,” Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a news release. “Working with our partners in State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office and the State Department of Financial Services, we helped unravel the defendant’s scheme and now the taxpayers of New York will get their money back.”